10 Year Anniversary of Original Mike’s

My restaurant, Original Mike’s, has a motto: Go Big or Go Home. Our 10th Anniversary Bash is going to be no exception. We’re teaming up with Quick Throttle magazine to throw the biggest party in the OC on Saturday, May 21, 2011, from 11 am-2 am. You can check out my appearance in their current issue at QuickThrottle.com.

This party may just go down in history for the biggest bash in downtown Santa Ana. On Saturday, we’ll have: 7 bands, 2 DJ's, 3 stages, 2 BBQ's, Ice Cold Beer, 6 Cocktail Bars, Cigar Bar, Tequila and Martini Bar, Raffles, Chapter Challenge, Celebrity Guests and more! Plus, Original Mike’s will host live music by: ZZ Top (Z) (So Cal’s best cover band) Road House Flash Back Cowboys Rhythm Kings Steel Rod Lemon Street Band Soul What DJ C-los DJ Rico If you stop in to Original Mike’s anytime between now and the party, you’ll get a raffle ticket to win some great prizes on May 21st. I can’t wait to celebrate my restaurant’s 10th anniversary and I hope to see you there! Best,

Mike’s Projects: Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation

You know I love cars. The bigger, the badder, the better. But what I love more than simply collecting is using these vehicles to help others. One of the charities that remain very important to me is the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation http://www.pcrf-kids.org/. This last spring, we had the chance to combine my love of cars with my passion for helping kids.

Mike Harrah's Bat Mobile Yep, that’s the Batmobile. For The Pageant of Automobiles, http://pageantofautos.com we brought over 30 cars to downtown Santa Ana and displayed them in front of the OC Pavilion for free. The event also included a lunch and performance by OSCHA (Orange County High School of the Arts—another one of my favorite organizations). Part of the pageant fee went to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) and we also supported Next Up Youth Foundation.

I’m honored to be a part of the great work these organizations are doing. Since its inception in 1982, PCRF has raised over 22 million dollars to fund research that has led to medically sound treatments for childhood cancers. If you’d like to learn more about the great work they do, please visit their website at http://www.pcrf-kids.org/ Best,

Mike’s Projects: Original Mike’s Restaurant

Each week, I’d like to feature one of the properties I’ve had the chance to work on in my career as a builder and real estate developer. original-mikes-Mike-Harrah-blog.

To start, I thought you might like to learn a little bit about a restaurant I like so much, I gave it my name- Original Mike’s. There have been quite a few articles about this restaurant, and you can find some of them here http://mikeharrah.com/news/articles/20-original-mikes-, here http://mikeharrah.com/news/articles/18-wonderland-original-mikes-is-a-feast-for-the-senses and here http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/340607.

Original Mike’s was originally built in 1919—it was the United Automotive building and sold cars for many years. When I bought it, the handsome structure had been vacant for 18 years and a lot of the historic character had been buried under years of vandalism and disuse. Our crew stripped it back to the bare bones and then painstakingly restored all of the original fixtures. We currently have photos hanging inside the restaurant that were taken back when Santa Ana was a young city and the building was brand new.

One of my favorite things about Original Mike’s is that it combines my love of good food with my passion for great cars. Since the building once held classic autos, I felt it was important for the restaurant floor to be a show place of some of the really interesting vehicles I’ve collected. On display, there’s the first fire truck from the Santa Ana Fire Department, a 1936 Packard, and there’s even a Triumph Motorcycle hanging from the ceiling.

The slogan for Original Mike’s is “Good Cookin’, Good Eatin’, Good Livin’” and we don’t mess around. I’m a big guy—any mention of “Mike Harrah” always seems to emphasize that I’m 6’6. So when we put together a menu for Original Mike’s, I made sure the food lived up to my standards. The burgers are big. The onion rings are crisp. The ribs are juicy.

I hope I’ll see you around. Original Mike’s has live music, a serious outdoor dining patio and private rooms available for parties.Best, All the best!

Mike’s Projects: The Pinnacle

I love Hawaii. When I finished high school, I scraped together the money to fly to Hawaii, thinking I’d lead the “Endless Summer” life—surfing all day. Things didn’t quite work out the way I expected and after months of working on a pineapple plantation for five cents an hour, I came back home to Orange County.

Despite my inability to make it as a surf bum, I still have a soft spot for the islands of Hawaii. When I found the perfect piece of land, I put together a luxury condominium project that I’m incredibly proud of. Located in the heart of downtown Honolulu, The Pinnacle Tower at 1199 Bishop Street is 36-stories tall and features no more than 2 condos per floor.

The Kalewalani Penthouse Suite is the only premier penthouse on the Hawaiian Islands. Here’s a slideshow http://www.pinnaclehonolulu.com/ where you can see some of its most elegant features.